While evictions are illegal in Ontario while the world is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, that doesn’t mean they aren’t happening.
With illegal evictions, prison custody releases and hospital discharges all on the uptick as a result of COVID-19 and new provincial state of emergency rules, the fallout from those decisions are being felt at the local level, putting a strain on Barrie’s social services.
“It’s kind of like, usual-Busby on steroids right now. All of the systems are having increased discharges. It’s putting added pressures on the shelter system,” Sara Peddle, executive director of the David Busby Centre, said in an interview with BarrieToday.
Derrick Naylor, 27, has been renting a room in a house in Barrie since January for $500 a month. While he has held employment off and on, he is on Ontario Works. He said it’s difficult for him to hold down a regular job due to some mental-health issues.
“I do enjoy construction (work), but I deal with anxiety, depression and dyslexia,” Naylor told BarrieToday.
Trouble started for Naylor when he says he saw and heard from friends that his landlord’s boyfriend would follow him around from time to time while working or around town.
On April 2, when he said he confronted his landlord and told her he would get a restraining order against the boyfriend if the stalking didn’t stop, she told him she didn’t want him living in the house anymore, so he left.
“My aunt lives in Stouffville, which is more than a hop, skip and a jump away. My dad is in jail. My mom has never been a real parental figure for me,” said Naylor. “I have my grandmother. She’s helped me out from time to time, but she lives in a seniors building in Barrie, so she can’t have me there, especially with the virus.
“I’ve been outside for quite a few days now. I understand that even going over there is potentially risky,” he added.
Naylor has been sleeping on park benches between Johnson Beach and Kempenfelt Park.
“Either that, or I don’t sleep and I just walk around instead,” he said.
Naylor has lived homeless at other points in his life, but he says it’s different this time due to the virus that’s gripping the world.
“I’ve been homeless in the winter, and sometimes it would come down to me doing day jobs or some things I’m not too proud of to pay to even sleep on a couch. It’s hard," he said.
"In the past, local services were open. I could go to the Salvation Army and sit down and have a good meal. Now, the Salvation Army asks you to stand outside the doors. You can’t even go in. I wasn’t sure I could even get a cup of water at first.”
When Naylor visited his Ontario Works caseworker about his situation, he said their response was to cut back the amount of money he was getting to a basic-needs level, which is between $200 and $300 a month.
“It’s devastating,” he said. “During this time, as far as I know, it’s almost against the law (to evict someone). They pushed me out into this ghost town.”
As part of Ontario declaring a state of emergency on March 17, the Landlord and Tenant Board has suspended in-person hearings. The only exception is for urgent issues such as an illegal acts or serious impairment of safety. The issuance and enforcement of eviction orders is also suspended.
In Naylor’s case, he wasn’t issued an official eviction notice, so it’s a grey area.
“We’re going through serious and scary times. There’s always going to be a homeless populace,” he said.
Peddle said this week that the David Busby Centre has seen an increase in calls to the centre this month of people being evicted from their homes looking for help.
“We’re advising them that it’s actually illegal right now and we’re getting them in touch with the Community Legal Clinic so they can get some support on what their legal rights are,” said Peddle. “We are seeing an increase everywhere.”
Peddle said the issue is difficult to quantify at this point because numbers are coming in from a variety of different agencies. However, she said since the Elizabeth Fry Society started sharing space with Busby about two weeks ago, they went from supporting 12 clients to 27 as of Monday.
“We’re working with about 45 to 50 right now (at Busby), while also supporting people who are camping right now, since it’s one of the best types of social isolation if they’re comfortable there,” she said.
Peddle said the centre has also seen an influx in clients who are being released from custody.
“We saw eight intakes in two days. We know that (number) is just going to grow as well,” she said. “We’re getting daily calls from hospitals. It’s just been non-stop.”
Peddle says the Busby Centre, along with other local health-care providers, are working behind the scenes to try to mitigate some of the stresses on the system.
“It’s definitely been a whirlwind couple of weeks,” she said.
Peddle said the shift into motels and hotels paid for by the County of Simcoe has gone well so far, and procedures are in place regarding physical distancing, cleaning and safety for staff.
“We’re serving people better each day,” said Peddle.
Typically, the Busby Centre's overnight program is suspended from May until October. However, due to the extenuating circumstances, Peddle says the program will be continuing out of the motels and hotels for as long as it takes for the pandemic to pass.
“We plan on continuing for as long as the county requires us to do so,” said Peddle. “We don’t know what this whole COVID situation is going to look like, so we just want to make sure we’re here to support as much as we can.”
Peddle says that right now, the centre needs donations of cash or gift cards for local grocers.
“We’re having to order things in bulk right now and we don’t want people going into stores as we want to support physical distancing,” she said.
Looking back on the past few weeks, Peddle says she has some regrets about the way processes at the centre have progressed.
“We had to be very quick in some of the decisions we made so we could be ahead of this. A lot of other communities are looking at our area as being ahead of the curve. With that, our communication wasn’t the best with our volunteers,” said Peddle. “We really want to apologize to our stakeholders that if they’ve had a hard time getting a hold of us in the past couple of weeks. We could have done better there. We appreciate everyone’s patience.”
To donate to the David Busby Centre, click here.
If you find yourself homeless and are in need of support, David Busby Centre staff can be reached through their central intake line at 705-790-7028, where they will do intake for their overnight program over the phone as well as direct you to appropriate community services.
